Washington Overview

With Microsoft and Amazon as the state's top employers, it's no surprise that technology is critical to the Washington job market and the state's 3.5 million workers. Washington's recovery stalled at the end of 2011, but has since bounced back and is expected to continue.

Washington Job Opportunities

The Evergreen State's healthy lifestyle, low energy costs and varied terrain draw a highly educated and creative workforce. Washington is home to a unique blend of technology, innovative and entrepreneurial companies, with expertise in aerospace, clean energy, forest products, sciences and information technology. As the largest public university recipient of federal research dollars, the University of Washington supports a strong research program to advance medicine and science.

Government jobs dominate employment in Washington followed very closely by trade, transportation and utilities. Most industries have reported solid growth while government and financial activities have been on the decline.

Washington Employment Trends

Washington's job conditions have recently shown signs of a strong recovery. The state's unemployment rate exceeded 10 percent from the end of 2009 into the start of 2010, then dropped to the 8-percent range at the beginning of 2012. After contracting for two years, Washington payrolls have been positive since the end of 2010. With the exception of a slight dip in mid-2011, the volume of online hiring opportunities has been steadily expanding postrecession.

Moody's Analytics forecasts a solid 2.1 percent increase in Washington jobs from Q2 2012 to Q2 2013, higher than the 1.3 percent growth expected in the US job supply.